Opening of railway over bridges in Vellore, Tiruvannamalai town and Cheyyar by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Thursday, through video conference, has brought relief to hundreds of residents as they no longer have to take a detour for a few kilometres to reach the towns. Located on the Thandurai - Tiruvannamalai Main Road, the railway over bridge (ROB) in Tiruvannamalai town connects the temple town with neighbouring areas like Chetpet, Arani, Polur, Vandavasi, Chengam and Arcot. Within the town also, the new facility will ease traffic congestion. “Due to the railway level crossing, we had to take a detour for at least three km to reach the other side of the main road. During emergencies, the detour proved costly to us,” said K. Perumal, a resident in Tiruvannamalai. Officials said that the multi-crore project got its administrative sanction way back in October 2013 from the State government with an initial cost of ₹32.90 crore under the Railway Projects 2014-15 scheme. The project got delayed due to land acquisition and procedural delays. Five years later, the work for the railway bridge was started in September 2018 by the State Highways Department, which maintains the stretch, with a deadline of 24 months. The track portion of the project was done by the Southern Railway. With over an year and half delay from the scheduled date of completion, the bridge was opened on Thursday bringing much needed relief to the residents of the temple town.
For residents, the railway bridge, which is 666 metres long and built at a cost of ₹41.74 crore including railway’s contribution of ₹3 crore, connects neighbouring big towns. The bridge is also located on the Puducherry - Krishnagiri High Road, which is a State Highway (SH 55), connecting Puducherry, Tindivanam, Villupuram, Tirukovilur, Gingee, Chennai, Krishnagiri and Bengaluru and vice versa. As a major tourism spot, tourists to the town’s famous Arunachalesvara Temple will also benefit.
Likewise, a long standing demand of residents in Cheyyar in Vandavasi taluk was also met on Thursday with the opening of high level bridge across Cheyyar river, a tributary of Palar, connecting two key stretches such as Cheyyar - Anaicut Road and Thiruvathipuram - Arani Road.
The new bridge, which is around 800 metres long and built by the State Highways Department, also connects Thandurai - Eraiyur Road in Cheyyar town. Apart from linking big towns, the high level bridge provides easy access to more than 14 farming villages helping the farmers transport their farm produce to big markets at Vandavasi, Chengam, Cheyyar, Kancheepuram, Polur and Arani easily. Around 80,000 residents in these villages are expected to benefit from the bridge that has been built at a cost of ₹12.75 crore. In Vellore, a railway over bridge in Virinjipuram - Vaduganthangal near Katpadi in Vellore was inaugurated bringing much relief to hundreds of residents in the neighbourhood.
